Sudan medical mission:Skaneateles volunteer works in 100-degree heat in Sudan

Provided photoDon Cross, of Skaneateles, works with villagers in Duk Payuel, Sudan in the spring of 2007 to build the Duk Lost Boys Clinic. Cross is in Sudan now preparing for the medical team that is leaving Syracuse today for a 10-day medical mission.

Duk Payuel, Sudan-------Don Cross, an engineer at Nucor Steel in Auburn, sent me an email at 8:56 a.m. today from the remote village in Southern Sudan, where he's volunteering at the Duk Lost Boys Clinic.

Members of the team includes Don's wife, Heidi, a nurse practitioner and his daughter, Lia, who is finishing her master's degree in public health at Boston University. The team leaves Syracuse at 12:28 p.m. for Detroit. Their flight from Detroit to Amsterdam is expected to leave at 5:25 p.m. From Amsterdam, they'll take an eight-hour flight to Nairobi, Kenya. They'll spend Sunday night Nairobi and leave for Duk Payuel at 6 a.m. Monday.

Here's Don's email

Good Morning Maureen!

I just finished talking by "Skype" to my Heidi and Lia (nickname for my daughter Lillian). Since we have crossed the 113 degree mark today, I guess we are about 100 degrees hotter than Syracuse! It is almost 5:30 in the afternoon here and it is still above 110 degrees. The rain we got yesterday A.M. has raised the humidity considerably and if we don't get any more, it should dry the earth some and be more comfortable by Monday when the team arrives. Their first day will be the hardest to adjust to and if the humidity is still up there, it will be pretty debilitating if they do much more than unpack and rest.

We spent today completing the battery (electric) room and most of the clinic staff did a good "policing" of the grounds to pick up any litter and rake and smooth the walking paths around the tent area.

We put up the shade cover (between the 2 shipping containers) which will provide a good place for the tents of the team. Also everyone did laundry and it looks like the backyards of Syracuse in the 50's when everyone hung their wash out on Saturdays. There are 4 lines strung throughout the tent area and there are some pretty colorful items blowing in the light breeze!

The only patients to come today are emergency cases, and early this A.M. an old woman (probably a Great Grandma) came carrying a covered basket on her head steadied by one thin arm which contained a silent--very sick infant.

I do not know what outcome came from that patient, but the eerie silence from the basket, and also the countenance of the woman suggests that the child may not have survived the long journey the woman had to make this morning. Neither the woman nor the child are here now.

Provided photoDon Cross, poses for a photo with villages in Duk Payuel in the spring of 2007 when he and other volunteers from Central New York went to build the Duk Lost Boys clinic. Cross is in Sudan now preparing for the arrival of the medical team that is leaving Syracuse today for a 10-day mission at the clinic.

We have a very dedicated medical staff here who live in this "frontier" existence with no transportation, no recreation (except for board games, shortwave radio and books) and little to do in their "off hours" except try to rest in a shaded area and await the business of the next day's patients.

They get one month paid vacation per year and that is their only time to leave this area and go back to their families and the conveniences we take for granted--like flush toilets, doors, windows, newspapers and loving families.

The resident staff consist of: medical officer who is the doctor, pharmacist, lab technician, nurse, interpreter, clinic Manager, tech/electrician, grounds keeper and cleaning and cooking folks. Some are Sudanese, some are from families in the area, and all are very dedicated and are totally committed to this one-of-a-kind health care facility which is having such a good impact on a local and regional level.

All of the staff could work elsewhere, make more money, and have time off to do what most of us do on our days off. Instead, these folks remain here until their allotted vacation time living in extreme conditions-- year-round to make a difference.

Tomorrow is truly a "day of rest" and most of us will attend worship in the 80 foot long, 35 foot wide, mud sided, thatched roofed, dirt floored, local church where the service will start at 8 a.m. and conclude around 11(a.m.). There is much to be thankful for in this village and region, and there is always a spirited rejoicing within the congregation every week.